The Ash
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NATURE SONGS
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Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales
Burn ash-wood green,
'Tis a fire for a queen:
Burn ash-wood sear,
'Twill make a man swear.
Ash, when green, makes good fire-wood, and, contrary perhaps to all
other sorts of wood, is bad for that purpose when sear, or dry,
withered. The old Anglo-Saxon term sear is well illustrated by this
homely proverb. The reader will remember Macbeth:
I have lived long enough:
My way of life is fallen into the sear and yellow leaf.